Private hospitals allowed to purchase vital injections for critically-ill COVID-19 patients

LAHORE: The Punjab Healthcare Commission (PHC) has allowed the private hospitals to purchase Tocilizumab [Actemra] Injection to treat the critically-ill patients of coronavirus, ARY News reported on Sunday.

The provincial healthcare commission ordered private hospitals to acquire Tocilizumab [Actemra] Injection for treating seriously-ill COVID-19 patients.

According to the directives, the hospitals comprising five or more beds dedicated for coronavirus patients were allowed to purchase the vital injection from the company. A two-member committee will issue formal permission to the hospital’s administration for the injection purchases after inspecting the patient.

Moreover, the administration will be restricted to provide records of purchases and usage of the injections to the commission. The usage of the Actemra injection will be made in accordance with the instructions of the provincial health department.

PHC will also conduct monitoring and auditing of the Actemra injections in the hospitals.

Earlier in the day, Punjab reported 2,514 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of infections across the province to 52,601, according to the statistics provided by Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department on Sunday.

A spokesperson for the department said, 31 more people died from coronavirus in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of fatalities to 969 in Punjab province.

Of the new 2,514 cases, Lahore reported 1331 new Covid-19 infections.

The number of people recovering from the disease has risen to 17,560, said the spokesperson.

It must be noted that the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Pakistan has jumped to 139,230 after the detection of record 6,825 new infections in past 24 hours.